Book Description

Dr. Steve Parker has created the first-ever low-carbohydrate Mediterranean diet, designed for people with type 2 diabetes and prediabetes. His science-based plan blends the healthy components of the traditional Mediterranean diet with the ease and effectiveness of low-carb eating. "Conquer Diabetes and Prediabetes" teaches how to lower blood sugars naturally, reduce or eliminate diabetic medications, and lose excess weight if needed.

Type 2 diabetics and prediabetics have lost the ability to process carbohydrates safely. Carbohydrates have become poisonous for them. Carb toxicity too often leads to numb and painful limbs, impaired vision, kidney failure, amputations, cancer, and premature heart attacks, strokes, and death.

Nutrition experts worldwide agree that the Mediterranean diet is the healthiest way of eating for the general public. It prolongs life and reduces rates of heart attack, stroke, cancer, and dementia. The only problem for diabetics is that it provides too many toxic carbohydrates.

Dr. Parker initially recommends a very-low-carb ketogenic diet for 12 to 18 weeks, then teaches the reader how to gradually add more healthy carbohydrates depending on blood sugar and body weight changes. Due to the toxic nature of carbohydrates in people with impaired blood sugar metabolism, most diabetics won’t be able to tolerate more than 80-100 grams of carbohydrate daily. (The average Western diet provides 250 grams.)

The book provides recipes, a week of menus, instruction on exercise, discussion of all available diabetic medications, advice on prevention of weight regain, lists of delicious doctor-approved foods, 71 scientific references, and an annotated bibliography. All measurements are given both in U.S. customary and metric units.

Steve Parker, M.D., is a leading medical expert on the Mediterranean diet and author of the award-winning "Advanced Mediterranean Diet: Lose Weight, Feel Better, Live Longer." He has over two decades’ experience practicing Internal Medicine and treating patients with diabetes and prediabetes.

Dr. Steve Parker has created the first-ever low-carbohydrate Mediterranean diet, designed for people with type 2 diabetes and prediabetes. His science-based plan blends the healthy components of the traditional Mediterranean diet with the ease and effectiveness of low-carb eating. "Conquer Diabetes and Prediabetes" teaches how to lower blood sugars naturally, reduce or eliminate diabetic medications, and lose excess weight if needed.

Type 2 diabetics and prediabetics have lost the ability to process carbohydrates safely. Carbohydrates have become poisonous for them. Carb toxicity too often leads to numb and painful limbs, impaired vision, kidney failure, amputations, cancer, and premature heart attacks, strokes, and death.

Nutrition experts worldwide agree that the Mediterranean diet is the healthiest way of eating for the general public. It prolongs life and reduces rates of heart attack, stroke, cancer, and dementia. The only problem for diabetics is that it provides too many toxic carbohydrates.

Dr. Parker initially recommends a very-low-carb ketogenic diet for 12 to 18 weeks, then teaches the reader how to gradually add more healthy carbohydrates depending on blood sugar and body weight changes. Due to the toxic nature of carbohydrates in people with impaired blood sugar metabolism, most diabetics won’t be able to tolerate more than 80-100 grams of carbohydrate daily. (The average Western diet provides 250 grams.)

The book provides recipes, a week of menus, instruction on exercise, discussion of all available diabetic medications, advice on prevention of weight regain, lists of delicious doctor-approved foods, 71 scientific references, and an annotated bibliography. All measurements are given both in U.S. customary and metric units.

Steve Parker, M.D., is a leading medical expert on the Mediterranean diet and author of the award-winning "Advanced Mediterranean Diet: Lose Weight, Feel Better, Live Longer." He has over two decades’ experience practicing Internal Medicine and treating patients with diabetes and prediabetes.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Steve Parker, M.D., is a leading medical expert on the Mediterranean diet and author of the award-winning "Advanced Mediterranean Diet: Lose Weight, Feel Better, Live Longer." He has over two decades’ experience practicing Internal Medicine and treating patients with diabetes and prediabetes. Dr. Parker lives in Arizona (USA) with his wife and children.

I was really surprised by the Introduction. Dr. Parker begins by apologizing and saying, "I'm sorry for what the Medical establishment has done to people with diabetes. We've done an atrocious job for type 2 diabetics and prediabetics." This immediately makes one realize one is dealing with a very honorable man who really cares about his patients. He had long been an advocate of the proven healthy Mediterranean-style eating for the general population. He says low-carb diets are higher in total fat and saturated fats but since this has been proven not to contribute to heart disease and strokes, now low-carb diets are enjoying resurgence. He calls carbohydrates the poison or toxin because in type 2 diabetes and prediabetes the body cannot handle carbohydrates in the normal fashion. He created a carbohydrate-restricted Mediterranean diet to help people with metabolic syndrome, prediabetes or full-blown diabetes. This diet can reverse metabolic syndrome. He goes into what levels of blood sugar defines one as diabetic and he goes into lots of detail for blood sugar and A1C levels, but all in a way that lay people can understand quite easily. Dr. Parker writes in an interesting way and very clearly. The book is very easy to follow as a result.

He goes into detail about the various drugs to treat diabetes and as well sternly warns people with diabetes that serious consequences from hypoglycemia can arise from following a very low-carb diet and being on certain diabetic drugs, which he names. He explains how to prevent this and monitor glucose levels.

The regular Mediterranean diet is a bit too high in carbohydrates for people who should be low-carbing, but there are some very healthy aspects to the diet that are compatible with a low-carb diet such as "olive oil, nuts and seeds, wine, fish, cheese and Mediterranean spices."

Steve admits that low-carbing is not for everyone, but if it results in major weight loss, then obvious long-term health benefits arise from that.

He describes what one can eat on the Ketogenic Mediterranean Diet (KMD) and which supplements to take. He recommends 8 to 12 weeks on KMD and then to evaluate whether to move onto the Low-Carb Mediterranean Diet. Steve's primary goal with his program is "to reap the health benefits of a Mediterranean- style diet without losing control of blood sugars in diabetics and pre-diabetics. On the Low-Carb Mediterranean diet, he recommends adding in fruits, more veggies, including starchy ones, legumes, yogurt and other dairy products and whole grains. To avoid carb overdose he recommends gradually adding back the carbs. He conveniently groups the foods and indicates serving sizes, including carb counts. A week of meals and special recipes is outlined, including recipes for his daughter, Arizona's baked cheesecake, almond pound cake, low-carb chili, etc.

Then there is a chapter for Daily Life with Low-carb Eating, his sense of humor coming through every now and then making me smile. He gives some cool links for more low-carb recipes and my blog was included! I was tickled pink to find that page. He tells you where you can track your weight, blood sugars and consumption of the major food items for free. There is a chapter on exercise and strength training. The last chapter is about maintenance.

All in all this is a very healthy diet and a super-easy one to follow, far less complicated than most of the low-carb diets out there. It is the first low-carb Mediterranean diet in the whole world! Congratulations, Dr. Parker! I love your book and highly recommend it to anyone wishing to lead a happier, healthier life and definitely recommend it to anyone who has diabetes as it is specifically geared to help and encourage these people to never experience diabetes complications.Read more ›

I have been following Dr. Steve Parker's excellent blog ([...]) for some time now and was delighted to discover his new book, which pulls all this information together in a concise and user-friendly format supported by excellent scientific references and practical tips.

Don't be misled by the term "Mediterranean diet," which many people associate with white-flour pizza, pasta and bread or risotto, blood-sugar boosting foods that diabetics should avoid like the plague (and which, regrettably, have become common staples in most modern-day Mediterranean countries and restaurants...).

Instead, the author highlights the many benefits of the *pre-industrial* Mediterranean diet, which is characterized by unprocessed whole foods: vegetables, fish, meat and eggs, olive oil, nuts and seeds, spices, herbs and red wine. (Fruits, legumes, yogurt and other dairy products and whole grains are restricted initially but allowed in moderate amounts later-on.)

Indeed, contrary to popular belief, traditional Mediterranean food was not particularly "low-fat" and contained a wide variety of animal fats and protein. (As discussed in this article: [...]). This is why it's possible to eat a Mediterranean diet while nonetheless avoiding the sugars and refined carbs that increase our risk of diabetes, heart disease, obesity and cancer, to name but a few.

In terms that are easy to understand for non-specialist readers, this book provides an in-depth explanation of the mechanics of blood-sugar balance, weight loss and exercise, and proposes easy ways to improve blood-sugar control and lose weight through low-carb or very low-carb (ketogenic) eating habits.

The recipes are simple and tasty - I particularly enjoyed the Mexican Eggs & Avocado with homemade Pico de Gallo, as well as the pecan pie crust (I made it without sweetener and it tasted great). For people who find it hard to get started, the book offers a convenient one-week meal planner with recipes. I would have liked a few more recipes, but the book does provide many excellent online recipe websites where enthusiastic home cooks can find inspiration.Read more ›

As a registered dietitian, I strive to eat as healthfully as possible. Before realizing I had prediabetes, I followed a diet very similar to the Mediterranean Diet. It's delicious as well as healthy; there's plenty of solid evidence supporting this way of eating. So I was very happy to find Dr. Steve Parker's Diabetic Mediterranean Diet website. Dr. Parker is an expert on the Mediterranean Diet, having previously published The Advanced Mediterranean Diet: Lose Weight, Feel Better, Live Longer. In his latest book, he explains the many benefits of his carbohydrate-restricted version of this diet. The book actually contains two diets: the Diabetes Mediterranean Diet and the Ketogenic Mediterranean Diet. The ketogenic plan calls for as little as 20 grams of carbs daily, and Dr. Parker recommends that it be followed intermittently rather long term, a concept I agree with. He believes we don't know enough about the long-term consequences of consuming less than 20 grams of carbs per day to recommend eating this way continuously and indefinitely.Favorite quote: "Rank-and-file physicians, dietitians, and nutritionsts put blind faith in their instructors, scientific journal editors, and time-honored and tenured 'thought leaders.' Our unquestioning faith has hurt people with diabetes and prediabetes."

The author of this book Dr. Steve Parker is a gentleman I have a great deal of respect for. He has been on my "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show" podcast a couple of times sharing about his love for the Mediterranean diet and his newfound appreciation for merging it together with my beloved low-carb lifestyle change. The result of marrying these two healthy nutritional concepts lays the groundwork for the information provided in CONQUER DIABETES AND PREDIABETES: THE LOW-CARB MEDITERRANEAN DIET. With diabetes, blood sugar disturbances, and metabolic derangement running rampant in the United States and around the world right now, it's imperative that those who truly care about this issue begin articulating in very clear and persuasive language what can be done to resolve the issue. That's exactly what Dr. Parker has done and I applaud his willingness to remain open to change, making tweaks here and there to his long-held beliefs, and disseminating what he has learned to the masses. We need more physicians who are willing to do this if real change will ever happen to this disease of diabetes. Are you ready to give low-carb a try for yourself? Perhaps a Mediterranean-styled version of it is just what the doctor ordered. LITERALLY!

More About the Author

After completing medical training, he entered the private practice of office-based internal medicine in Austin, TX, then Pensacola, FL. For 17 years, Dr. Parker worked in medical clinics, including three practices he started from scratch. During that span he also co-founded an osteoporosis center.

Since 2001, Dr. Parker has been working as a hospitalist in the Phoenix, AZ, metropolitan area, diagnosing and treating adult patients in the hospital only.

His award-winning first book,"The Advanced Mediterranean Diet: Lose Weight, Feel Better, Live Longer," was published in late 2007. Since then, he has been an active blogger at the Advanced Mediterranean Diet Blog. The second edition of "The Advanced Mediterranean Diet" was released in 2012.

In 2009, Dr. Parker founded the Diabetic Mediterranean Diet Blog as part of a comprehensive adaptation of the healthy Mediterranean diet for people with type 2 diabetes. The first fruit of this labor was the Ketogenic Mediterranean Diet, a very-low-carbohydrate weight-loss plan applicable to people with or without diabetes. The Low-Carb Mediterranean Diet (for diabetics and prediabetics) was released in 2010. Both diets are available free at the Diabetic Mediterranean Diet Blog.

Dr. Parker's second book is "Conquer Diabetes and Prediabetes: The Low-Carb Mediterranean Diet," published in 2011. His latest is "KMD: Ketogenic Mediterranean Diet."

His current research interest is application of the Paleolithic diet (aka Stone Age or caveman diet) as a treatment for diabetes.

Dr. Parker's professional goals are to expand the reach of his medical expertise far beyond the narrow confines of the hospital patient's room, and to enhance lives by preventing disease, improving health, and increasing longevity via healthy lifestyle education.

[You may contact Dr. Parker at his email address: steveparkermd@gmail.com. Due to the volume of mail received, he may not be able to respond personally to each.]